Additional Mail Items.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2944, 23 July 1878, Page 2

Additional Mail Items.

London, June 7.

On Monday last the directors of the Eastern Extension Australian and China Telegraph Co. invited a large number of gentlemen, including many Australian colonists, to inspect the new repairing ship the Sherard Osborne, which is about io start for Singapore to replace thoEdin*

burgh. Great admiration was expressed by tall at ths excellence, of the arrangements ou board, and the interest, was--further enharetdby an examination of the extensive works of'telegraph construction and maintenance. The inspection was followed by a dinner at tho Ship Hotel, Greenwich, at which 150 ti- nttemen sat down. Amongst those, present were :— Sir Garnet Wolseley, the Agents-General for the Australian Colonies,. Sir Spencer Robinson, and Bishop Perry. Mr Pender presided, and, in proposing the toast of " The Colonies," the Chairman, referred to the completion of an arrangement for duplicating the cable, and eulogised colonial enterprise. Sir A. Mitchie and Mr Forsler responded.^. | The British Consul, while journeying in Crete, was shot at by Turks, but escaped unhurt. Four hundred Mormons have lately left Liverpool for America. Gold has been discovered in Patagonia. A railway for the Sandwich Islands is being prepared by an English contractor.

The ludian Government has resolved to limit the strength of "the feudatory army to the number actually required for international protection. The Shah of Persia has commenced his European tour. After.a-week's stay at St. Petersburg, he left on May 28 for Warsaw, whence lie proposed to journey to Berlin,' Vienna, and Paris. He will subsequently visit England incognito, and inspect the great industrial establishments. M. Sardou, the celebrated diamatist, has been formally-received as a member of the French Academy by Ales. Pumas, the president. At Barcelona there has been an extensive strike. The tax imposed by the; Town Council there has also been the subject of considerable republican agitation in the province, requiring military interference. On the 23rd ult. the Pope gave audience to 500 German pi'grims. On the 26th inst., at the Vatican gardens, ten portraits were ta'ien of his holiness by a London photographer. The physicians are anxious about his health. The Khedive has agreed to a reduction of expenditure to the extent of £250,000, as proposed by the Committee of Enquiry, to be chiefly obtained by rrJlitary retrenchment.